


Your Language is Beautiful

by HuntingHardyGirl



Category: Supernatural
Genre: ASL, American Sign Language, Cas falls in love and learns ASL, Deaf Culture, Deaf!AU, Deaf!Sam, Deaf!Sam Winchester, Falling In Love, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-12
Updated: 2016-05-12
Packaged: 2018-06-08 00:07:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,185
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6830911
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HuntingHardyGirl/pseuds/HuntingHardyGirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tumblr request: Maybe a high school AU where Sam is deaf and Cas has this really big crush on him but he doesn't know about Sam being deaf yet. And then when they meet Cas is just really adorable and flustered and Sam is guarded but he opens up when he realizes Cas isn't leaving. Please?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Your Language is Beautiful

Castiel Novak was pretty certain that if God was real, the Holy Bastard might be having the biggest joke played on him ever.

He didn’t even know what he had done to deserve this. He was just sitting there, trying to do his homework in study hall, when he looked up in time to see the most gorgeous looking boy walk in and hand a note to the study hall monitor Ms. Harvelle. She looked at the note, gave a nod and then pointed the boy to a seat across the room that was free.

Cas couldn’t stop staring at the boy. He was certain he was new, because he had never seen someone like him before and he’d lived in Souix Falls for the past seventeen years of his life.

The boy was tall, obviously almost six feet, with tanned skin which indicated that he spent a lot of time in the sun. He seemed to be growing into his well toned body and his floppy dark brown hair was hanging into his hazel eyes perfectly. He sat down quietly and pulled out a book to read, keeping to himself. Not many others in the study hall had noticed him come in.

Holy shit, this couldn’t be good for Cas. All he wanted was to pass through high school without any attachments and head off to college. It was not in his plan to have a massive crush the size of Jupiter on a boy he had never laid eyes on before. Especially on a gorgeous guy who obviously was way out of his league.

Cas grumbled to himself and tried to get to keep working on his Economics project but found it incredibly difficult to concentrate.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

For the next week and a half, Cas unconsciously kept an eye on the new boy. He was quiet, never seeming to speak, just went about his day and kept to himself. He had captured the attention of many of the girls in the school but none of them seemed to pique his interest. He always seemed to sit by himself, which struck Cas as odd. Why wouldn’t someone so attractive want to sit with other people?

One Friday afternoon he got an answer.

He always worked as an assistant in the library at school every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. He was behind the desk checking over some books that had been returned. It was calm and quiet and Cas rather liked it that way.

He turned around to grab something from the desk and nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw the new boy standing there. How the hell did he manage to get there without alerting Cas to his presence?

The boy looked a bit startled too, obviously not having meant to scare the smaller boy. He smiled in an apologetic manner, exposing dimples on his cheeks that immediately captivated Cas.

“Sorry,” Cas said. “I don’t usually scare easily.”

The boy’s brief smile disappeared and he tilted his head slightly.

“Um, can I help you with anything?” Cas asked.

It seemed to take a few moments for the question to make it to the boy’s mind because he blushed a little and took out a notebook. He scribbled something down in it before handing it to Cas.

The handwriting was neat and simple. “Sorry, I’m Deaf and I’m not used to reading lips. I was wondering if you’d help me find a book I need for a book report?”

Deaf? Well that certainly complicated things. Cas had been wondering what the boy’s voice sounded like, whether it was smooth and buoyant or low and husky.

But Cas determined that this wouldn’t be too much of an issue. He gave the boy a bright smile and wrote down his response in the notebook. “I’d be happy to. What title are you searching for?”

The boy seemed a bit relieved and he wrote back, “Do you have a copy of The De Vinci Code by Dan Brown? I’ve always wanted to read it and thought this was a better time than any.”

Cas tapped his lip as he struggled to remember if they did have a copy. The school library had a variety of books but he wasn’t sure if they had that particular title. “We can try and find it if you want, since I’m not sure. Want to help me look?”

The boy nodded and they went off to the fiction section in search of the book. It took them about ten minutes to finally find a copy, which pleased the boy greatly. They returned to the desk so Cas could check it out and he handed it over with a smile.

“I really appreciate this,” the boy wrote in his notebook. “Thank you.”

“The pleasure is all mine,” Cas wrote back.

The boy ended up leaving, looking pleased. Cas remained where he was, watching him go, his mind racing.

The first thing he did was rush off to the public library after school to grab different books on sign language.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Sam Winchester was used to being by himself.

Being Deaf didn’t exactly make it easy to make friends. A lot of kids made fun of him for not being able to hear or follow conversation well. And he knew his speech was probably funny to hear too since he wasn’t used to using his voice since he got meningitis at the age of six and lost his hearing as a result.

His father, John, had been upset about it when it happened. Sam thought it might have been his fault he went Deaf and made his daddy said, but John was more wracked with guilt that he hadn’t been there to take care of his youngest. Working as a mechanic he had taken an emergency tow call late at night, leaving ten year old Dean, Sam’s older brother, to keep watch. By the time midnight had come around Sam was so sick that Dean had to run to the neighbors for help.

To make up for it, John taught the little family sign language so Sam wouldn’t be left out by anything. He did his best to help provide his boys with the same education they both deserved, doing what he could to give Sam an extra boost so he wouldn’t fall behind. He was always understanding and patient, doing the best he could as a father. When Bobby Singer had called with a job opportunity, John packed up the boys and took them to Souix Falls, where their old family friend greeted them with open arms.

Dean had stepped up even more to be Sam’s most prominent protector. He made up some home signs for inside jokes with Sam, managing to skirt around the “no cursing” rule in order to keep calling Sam a bitch whenever John wasn’t looking. Despite some of the loneliness he felt at school, Sam felt lucky that his family still had his back and accepted him all the same, especially when he told John last year that he found boys attractive instead of girls. John simply told him to use common sense and protection and things would still go smoothly.

Sam had never really had crushed. More like, brief attractions, towards other boys over the past few years. But when he started going to the local high school and saw the boy in his study hall, he was enthralled. He had never seen a boy with such a slender, graceful body, nor with such adorably messy black hair or deep blue eyes. He moved with a sort of ease, as if he were very comfortable in his own skin and couldn’t care less what anyone thought of him.

Sam really wanted to talk to him, but how was he supposed to do that with an obvious language barrier between them? Would writing things down be enough just to say “hello” or would the boy blow him off?

He tried to avoid talking to the boy, since he was surely having a slight overreaction to a hypothetical situation. So when he needed help finding The Da Vinci Code from the school library, he was so nervous to be near the boy that his hands almost started shaking.

He never felt more relieved that the boy seemed to take his deafness in stride and even helped him find the book. He had a nice smile, warm and inviting and kind, making Sam weak at the knees. It was only after he left the library with his book that he realized, like the idiot he was, that he had forgotten to ask what the boy’s name was.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

Castiel studied until his eyes were sore and watering the whole weekend. He practiced in the mirror, thinking disdainfully that his movements seemed too clumsy to be legible. He could only hope that the boy wouldn’t be offended by his bad signing.

When Monday rolled around, he found himself at the school library again that afternoon. Since it was still a free period and there was nothing else for him to do assistant-wise, he went off to see if he could find a good novel to keep his attention.

Instead he saw the boy sitting at a table reading his own books. Cas considered bolting in the other direction but instead he took a breath and walked over. The boy looked up when he approached and offered a soft smile of welcome.

It was now or never. Cas raised his hand in the “hello” gesture. The boy responded in turn before gesturing to the chair across the table, inviting Cas to sit with him. As Cas began to sit down, the boy reached to take out his pen and notebook.

“It’s okay,” Cas said softly, using his fingers to use the letters for O-K. Straining his mind to remember, he moved his hands the way he learned. “I learned some signs over the weekend.”

The boy looked absolutely dumbfounded, his eyes round in surprise.

“Did I do it right?” Cas asked, beginning to worry he had mixed something up and accidentally offended the other boy.

Instead, that handsome face broke into the widest smile Cas had ever seen, showing off the pearly white teeth and gorgeous dimples. “You did fine,” the boy signed back. “You’re just a bit choppy.”

“I thought so,” Cas admitted. “I forgot to ask your name on Friday.”

“My name is Sam,” the boy signed. “Sam Winchester.” He spelled it slowly so Cas could keep up. “What’s your name?”

“Castiel Novak.”

“C-A-S-T-I-E-L?” Sam’s brow was furrowed slightly.

“My grandfather is Russian,” Cas explained. “He insisted.”

“It’s a nice name. I like it. I think it’s the name of the Angel of Thursday.”

Cas was impressed. “You study religion?”

“Any subject that is interesting,” Sam said a bit sheepishly. “My uncle has a lot of religious text books.”

“That sounds cool,” Cas said.

Sam smiled. “Your signing is good,” he praised. “Is this your first time?”

“I studied all weekend,” Cas replied.

“You did?” Sam looked surprised. “Why?”

Cas could feel his face turning red but he made himself tell the truth. “I wanted to talk to you. You seem like a nice guy.”

Sam blushed a little too but he looked pleased. Happy, even. “I appreciate that,” he said. “You know, I could always teach you more. There’s a lot more to being Deaf than just Deafness.”

“I think I would like that,” Cas said with a smile. “I’d like that very much.”

Over the course of the next few months, Castiel’s signing improved dramatically and he learned a lot about the Deaf culture. He earned a friend in Dean Winchester, the leather jacket wearing and pie loving brother who was as obsessed about cars as Sam was obsessed about books. John Winchester was a nice man, if not a bit intimidating from his former life as a Marine.

Bobby Singer, too, was a nice man. He graciously allowed Cas to tag along with Sam to read up his old religious text books, the two boys reading the lore and history of different religions and gods of the past.

Sam and Cas became very close, swapping stories and dreams of the future. Their feelings for each other never changed, except to get stronger. And during one of their sign language lessons, Cas asked how to say, “Kiss me,” in ASL.

Sam moved his hands in flat O shapes and touched his fingertips together so they met before pointing to himself.

“How do you use it in a sentence?” Cas asked. He had only just managed to learn the art of flirting through sign language and he was hoping that Sam would pick up on it.

He seemed to, as he smiled a bit slyly and signed, “You could just say it by itself.”

“Okay. Kiss me,” Cas signed.

So Sam happily leaned over and gave Cas the best kiss he had ever had, their mouths meeting perfectly and sending jolts of electricity down their spines.

Castiel thought that sign language was the most beautiful language of them all.


End file.
